BERLIN – Bill Murray is going to be nothing but blunt. Moreover, Bill Murray is also gonna do what Bill Murray is gonna do. If Jeff Goldblum is now adored for his “Jeff Goldblum-isms” then Murray is expected to show up to events and entertain you. That extends to how he tackled meeting the press for his eighth collaboration with Wes Anderson, “Isle of Dogs.”
“I’m still reacting to the show that we had to sit through,” Murray waxes on the film’s premiere at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival the night before. “They brought us there two full hours before the movie began. Two and a half hours, because we had a half an hour outside. There was another half an hour or so in an airless room. We had to wait for that to happen. Then we had to be seated. And then we had an hour and twenty minutes of that [opening ceremony]. And the girl was funny. She was making them laugh in German. And if you’re making them laugh in German… Germans are not easy. And then all the people gave speeches and my German friend said he was revolted by it. He was disgusted by it. ‘These fucking Germans.’ I can’t say that! They all gave the same fucking spiel. Every one of them gave the same speech of different lengths.”
But, wait, if you didn’t read that long quote in your head as Murray would have you’re missing out on the humor and subsequent laughter that filled the room. And, frankly, he’s one of the few stars who can get away with it these days. Perhaps thinking his initial thoughts were a bit too negative, the Oscar nominee tried to look on the bright side of the previous evening’s spectacle.
“I did drum before the movie, and that was fun. The outdoors was really fun. That energy was cool,” Murray says. “They had the drummers out there and it was Wes, I give him credit. I said, ‘Did you see the drummers?’ He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘The drummers are out there.’ And he went out there, and then he’s like, ‘I would like to play them. Would you like to play them?’ He knew I’d say yes, so I’m like, ‘Yes, I’d like to play them.’ I’m sort of looking like, ‘Are we really going to do this?’ And of course he’s already gone all the way around the thing like a hunting dog, and he’s already up on stage. And it was fun. It was crazy. My heart was beating hard. I was working hard with those guys.”
The best part of this anecdote might by the revelation that Murray would even question embarking on the sort of impromptu moments he’s become known for, but perhaps that’s one reason the 67-year-old actor is so beloved by colleagues and friends alike. Whether crashing weddings or jumping behind a bar to serve drinks to members of the press (as he did during a media event for “Fantastic Mr. Fox“) there is a joy in his spirit that often makes you look the other way when he shows up for a press day over 30 minutes late (as he did for ‘Isle’) or takes the entire cast of a movie to lunch during the Toronto Film Festival completely screwing with the studio and media’s day as he did with “St. Vincent” in 2014 (Sigh, that was fun). It’s Bill Murray, man. He doesn’t mean anything buy it.
If you haven’t figured it out, Anderson, like most of the world, clearly adores him. Murray has now appeared in some capacity in every one of Anderson’s films since 1998’s “Rushmore“, and figured most prominently in his 2004 opus “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” In “Isle of Dogs” Bryan Cranston voices the lead role of Chief, but Murray’s is instantly recognizable as Boss, a member of his multi-breed pack. The recording process didn’t take very long, but Murray appreciated how the process was more “conversational” than “performance driven.”
“It was very much like if we were talking to each other in an elevator about what happened this afternoon or something,” Murray says. “You got to see this sort of spiral of canine performing. Everyone got a little more doggy as we were going along. It took a little while, and it was fun to watch, and silly to watch, and I think Wes enjoyed watching us dog up like that. The sound was just rolling the whole time.”
The more Murray speaks about working with Anderson the more he ends up referencing their previous films together. For example, the experience of shooting 2012’s “Moonrise Kingdom” involved wearing long socks every day to avoid ticks and the “crazy beautiful” coastline of Rhode Island. Oh, and every day would end with a great meal.